Christie - Senior 2012

Christie graduated in May and wanted a fun senior shoot before leaving for school.

She's so beautiful and natural, so this shoot was a breeze!  Here are some of my favorites.

Good luck, Christie!

We wore him out...

(He just enjoyed a banana chocolate chip muffin. I left the chocolate on his face. It's so Jake.)

 

We finally did it. We managed to wear Jake out this weekend. This boy normally never stops. He hasn't napped since he was 18 months old. He moves all day long until he crashes at 8pm and sleeps for 12 hours. Today he was tired. That is not something I normally say. He yawned at Church and laid in my lap for the entire Mass. One of the Sisters even asked me if he was sick. He spent the day playing quietly in the house until Dan's family arrived to celebrate his Mom's birthday.

So...here's the recap.

Friday afternoon we decided to take Jake on a brewery tour at Anheuser-Busch InBev. Every 5 year old needs to know how they make the beer, right? We made a quick stop at Gus' for pretzels.

Jake and Daddy spent a few minutes watching the production process.

Jake seemed to enjoy the tour. He never complained that he wanted to leave, so that's a pretty good sign that he's having fun.

In the hospitality room, I was worried that we would have trouble keeping Jake away from the beer. Then I saw this.  (Yes...we have the 5 year old that likes the taste of wine and beer. We have the almost 21 year old that doesn't drink, and the 5 year old that needs to be monitored around nearly empty wine and beer glasses.)

Jake is not allowed to drink soda normally, but today was a special treat.

Of course, he found a penny in the gift shop and got to take home a new friend...a Clydesdale.

We made a quick stop at the farmer's market near the brewery.

 

Dan then surprised Jake with a trip to a coin store.

He got to bring home a few treasures from that shop, too.

Our last surprise was Ted Drewes. Jake loves eating his frozen custard in the back of the car.

We hit the grocery store on the way home for steaks which we grilled for dinner.

It was such a beautiful day. We deserve it! It's been a miserable summer. It made us appreciate the lower temp and cool breeze even more. After dinner, we spent the rest of the evening on our deck...being silly.

We spent 3 hours at my local pool on Saturday with family. We got cleaned up after that and spent another 3 hours at a neighbor's birthday party/family barbeque. I got Jake down by 8:45 Saturday night, but he sure was tired most of the day on Sunday.

He got a second wind just in time to enjoy his cousins at Mama Sally's birthday dinner.

I'm still working on two senior edits and hope to have those ready to share in the next few days. Jake and I have three more weeks together before school starts. He'll be in school 4 long days and 1 half day each week. We have a lot of fun and relaxation to pack in over the next 3 weeks before we are back to school schedule.

Cake and Library Cards...

Speed has so much personality. It was really entertaining having him in the studio for a shoot.

 "What do you mean I have to stop texting and let Gigi get some pictures??!!"

Mom ordered these darling storyboards! The first one is 10"x20" and the second is 20"x20". They are both mounted on gator foam and include hooks for quick hanging.

I also just finished Emily and David's engagement gallery. We met last weekend on a drizzly morning. Despite the rain, we had so many laughs and such fun. I am really excited for these two and can't wait for their wedding next year!

This was the first shot I took of Emily and David. Normally that first shot is a warm up for me. I can't stop staring at this one. If I had a shot like this from my engagement, I would want to grow old with it framed in my house.

I thought I would include this fun before and after. We were at a park with very few buildings that we could use as a backdrop.  A little Photoshop action is such a good thing.

 When Emily told me the wedding would have a library theme (She's in library science, and David is a math teacher), I had an idea for a save the date shot. I printed a library card by Katie Pertiet at DesignerDigitals.com and brought it along.

Ok...back to work! I have two great senior shoots that need editing and tomorrow Dan and I are spending the day having some fun with Jake. I'll take my camera. ;)

My music man...

I was ready to post a picture of Jake's Bose system we recently put in his room, but the picture is gone. It's the first one I've lost. I wrote over it somehow. I had this system in my kitchen to play music from an old iTouch. I never used it. I am addicted to Pandora which I play through my tv. I was ready to move the system out of the kitchen and put some trip pictures in that space. I asked Jake if he wanted the system for his room, and he flipped! I made a playlist of his favorite songs and added it to the iTouch. He is having a blast listening to music and playing in his room...independently!  Now he wants music playing as he's falling asleep. I've been allowing it...against my better judgement. I don't want him to become dependent on it for sleeping.

This has been a great summer of growth for Jake. He's making his bed in the morning without asking. He's becoming more independent. I can leave him alone in a room, and I no longer have to be concerned when he's too quiet. He's dressing, brushing teeth, and combing his hair the first time he's asked. It's making the summer easier than I expected.  Don't get me wrong...I am ready for school to start. ;)

We had a little issue the other night at the dinner table. I did not set the table with 4 forks for Jake. He got them out.

I posted this picture on Facebook and asked my friends what I should do. Everyone agreed that if he's eating this well, just buy more forks. ;) 

Jake was so excited when his birthday book arrived from Shutterfly!

I did it the easy way on Shutterfly. I couldn't keep up with trying to make a layout for each page. It looks great! It's done and he's happy, so that's what counts.

I'm having a love/hate relationship with Project Life right now. I gave up on my photo a day project. :(  Times like this make me want to keep going. I found all three of them (Kate's boyfriend included) in my office looking at the album.

If I just had a few extra hours in my day...
 
I got a new throw pillow from my mom. I planned on using it for the couch in the basement, but it's so cute I kept it upstairs.

I had to laugh going through the photos on my iPad. Jake did this while we were in Marco.  This is going to be a layout.

I ordered a bunch of new backdrops for the studio when my favorite company was having their annual sale. Izzy came over for her 6 year old shoot, and I got a couple of shots of her with this one. I couldn't resist buying it!

Someone else had to get in on the candy action, too.

I'm so excited about this shot of Ben and Izzy together.

I will get in trouble with my sister if I share anymore shots right now. I'm making a card for her to send to family and friends, and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Here are more favorites from my shoot with Kristin and Julia.

The feet were not posed! I thought that was hilarious when I raised the wrap!

I have SO many shoots coming up in the next two weeks. A little guy with lots of personality was in the studio this morning smashing cake. Those will be ready to share soon. Tomorrow I'm spending time with Emily and David! They picked me to shoot their wedding next year! It's always such an honor! We are doing their engagement pictures in the morning, and I'm super excited about the theme.

Have a great weekend!